Chores for kids

[FedupofTurkey]

Please suggest age relevant jobs for a 10 year old (who had never been asked to help much before, other than tidy room, make bed, clear plates). Jobs that are already taken are washing, indoor bins, mopping floor, hoovering. So i need to come up with others was thinking laying table - daily, and taking big bins out - weekly.

Any other suggestions?

[notnagging]

My kids are in charge of a room each which rotates on a weekly basis so one is in charge of the front room, one the bathroom, one the hallway etc then swop. This includes cleaning the bath, sweeping the stairs, hoovering, dusting etc. the kitchen is shared & they can cook!
My eldest ds (11) also puts on the washing machine & all of them dry & put away their washing. It may sound alot but I couldn't take the mess anymore. Making them more responsible has really helped to keep the place tidy. Btw they don't get paid for any of this but get treats alot!

[NAR4]

I get mine to wipe skirting boards and doors about once a month and dust. Depends how fussy you are about housework (I am quite fussy). Maybe clean the bathroom, you can get packs of wipes (similar to wet wipes) that have the cleaner on and can be binned or flushed down the toilet when done. My children prefer to use these as there is no rinsing required, just a wipe over the surfaces.

Do you do recycling? This is another good job for a 10 year old. Mine sorts it into the right bins, which are kept outside.

[Newbiemomma]

I agree, cooking is a good chore. Peeling veg is one I used to actually enjoy! It gets kids excited about food, promotes healthy eating and I would also suggest giving them a chore they enjoy too!

[Bagofmashings]

We have a chores rota, so everyone has a job every day. My 11year olds include hoovering & dusting his room (after he's tidied it!), cooking, cleaning the bath (good idea about getting wipes, I usually end up mopping the floor after!!), cleaning the fridge, putting the buns & recycling out. I'm thinking of teaching him how to put a load of washing on and maybe ironing.

[NAR4]

Newbie you are so right. I love it when mine peel the veg for a meal. It makes cooking so much quicker than all that peeling done by just me and helps them appreciate what it takes to prepare a meal.

[FedupofTurkey]

Nor - love the recycling idea, he always tells me off for not doing so that will be a good one. Do you have a specific place to keep the recycling before its binned?

[NAR4]

I am lucky that I have an Ikea kitchen, which has a lovely bin in the cuboard under the sink. Two recycle bins and one normal bin. You can mix and match the buckets/bins you want to fit into the pull out base. We then have several differrent boxes/bins outside around the side of the house, that go out for the bin men. The council are big on recycling here and provide the boxes that are outside and they are collected once a fortnight.

[mathanxiety]

I do the one room each thing too, and it is interesting to see their different styles expressed in the way they tackle or do not tackle the room. DD3 clearly has amazing ability to nag endlessly higher managerial potential: the sitting room always looks good when it's her turn as she bosses everyone into doing her work for her. (She hides the remote until the room looks nice). Same with the bathroom. She inspects it and hauls people back if it's not left as it was found.

They all like to do a big chore once every so often, like cleaning the oven, skirting boards, washing interior windows, sorting through the fridge and freezer.

[SingingSands]

Cleaning out the car? I ask DD (8yrs) to do this, as my car is full of used parking tickets, random bits of paper the kids bring home from school, sweet wrappers (mine, usually) and the usual mud and sand etc. She goes armed with a carrier bag for rubbish, the dustbuster and baby wipes!

[SingingSands]

Another one - cleaning windows. Mine love spraying the Windex and buffing up with cloths. They did every window in the house and internal/patio doors before Christmas!

[mathanxiety]

Just don't expect any kind of good result if you let them loose with the car wax...